On June 1, 2018, the Alberta Government legislated that employers in the province submit potentially serious incident reports when there is an incident that could have resulted in a fatality or serious injury.
Since legislating that requirement, a total of 1,427 reports have come in over the course of nine months from 667 employers.
Alberta is currently one of the few provinces in the country that collects this data.
Under the legislation, the reporting requirement is not limited to workers and it does not have to require that there be an injury of any sort.
Of the 1,427 reported potentially- serious incidents, the government went and investigated a total of 98.
When a report comes in, the government will look to make sure that the workplace has instituted the proper measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again.
The 98 businesses that were investigated did not have a clear description of what
the workplace had done to prevent further incidents.
The construction industry made up the majority of industry reports with 399 in total. The next closest was the manufacturing industry with 319, public administration with 227 and mining/ oil and gas with 226.
According to information from the provincial government, the most common reported incident was being caught, in contact, or struck with objects. This type accounted for 476 reports. Slips or trips accounted for 117 reports, while falls and jumps were third at 115 incidents.
In terms of injuries, the most common type was wounds, sores
or bruises with 399, followed by joint and muscle injuries at 362.
The provincial government would like businesses to take several things into consideration when filing a PSI.
• The hazards that were present at the time of the incident.
• The circumstances of the incident, as in the time of day, place, people involved and
the workplace conditions.
• The controls in place at the time of the incident.
• The different circumstances, such as timing, body position, that may have resulted in an injury.
• Any similar incidents that happened in the previous two years.
